http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5748008.html Putting clamps on Boozer The Rockets also have stifled Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer, who is shooting just 44.6 percent, struggling at the foul line and hasn't reached his season scoring average (21.1 points) once in the series. That's in contrast to last year when Boozer had games of 26, 35 and 41 against the Rockets. "They're different," Boozer said. "They're a much better team defensively without Yao (Ming) in there, because they have guys that rotate from the weak side. From that perspective, they do a great job defensively. "They have one guy guarding you and then when I have the ball or Deron has the ball, they do a good job of having guys in the lane. So when you go by your initial defender, a secondary defender is waiting on you. "But I think I'm due for one (good game). I think I've taken good shots." The Jazz also have been abysmal with their outside shooting in the last two games, hitting only 2-for-23 from behind the 3-point line, which has allowed the Rockets to drop off and pack their defense even tighter in the lane against Boozer. That's tightened down the screws on the Utah offense and made a few collars at least a bit snug for a team that will treat Game 6 tonight as if it's Game 7. "Yeah, you have to," Sloan said. "You're playing at home. That's why you work to try to get the home-court advantage. You've got to try to take care of it when you have the opportunity."
Boozer is missing the point, it is not about Yao, Deke and he are about the same speed, it is about Rick Adelman's different game plan... That is why the defense was better, they guard them differently. DD
Keep saying that to yourself. It's this kind of mentality from the Rockets in general that has kept the Yao/Tmac combo from passing first round for last 4 years. "Win Now" "It's time" and now... "Woulda Crushed Them 4-1"
you're wrong. Deke is a much better all-around defender than Yao and he is quicker laterally. I'll trust Boozer's judgement, you know, someone who actually played against both Yao and Deke over you.
You can take whatever you want, feel free to continue to be wrong...... Last year JVG had Yao try to come out and cover the PnR, which freed up Boozer, this year......Rick Adelman had our center laying back and covering the roll and having help defense on the weakside ready to assist. Which stopped the PnR....but....whatever, you feel free to believe what you like. DD
Da Dakota, i think it's pretty clear that deke is a better defender than yao. not to minimize the impact of yao, but boozer went to work on him last year, and this year we pretty much shut him down. i think the reason is because yao is slow on his feet, and he doesn't position himself well defensively so it's easy to get him into foul trouble if you're quicker than him (and boozer is). the only reason dikembe is still in the league at 41 is because of his ageless defense. would we have had a better shot at beating utah with yao? certainly. 4-1 at worst? that's a stretch. the jazz exploit yao's weaknesses on both ends. i just mentioned his defensive weaknesses, and offense they ran quick guards aggressively at him when we caught the ball in the post and caused him to turn it over, which he tends to do when pressured.
Look Boozer scored the majority of his points last year on the PnR.....JVG complained about Yao all year not covering it well, ...this year, Rick Adelman changed the way it was defended. THAT is why Boozer struggled, nothing more... DD
Thanks for the link rofflesaurus. Boozer must have changed his tune by game 6 because he didn't give any credit to Mutombo when he was quoted in that ESPN broadcast. I also think Mutombo guarded the pick and roll better than Yao last year. But one-on-one, he didn't close out just like Yao. Boozer just missed wide open shots. Last year Yao wasn't 100%, JVG said as much on the radio this season. I still think Yao would have done better on the pick and roll this year than last year because he would have been healthier. Just look at the Hornets game on February 22 and how he guarded the Chris Paul pick and roll.
ZBOY You do realize that Yao was playing injured in the playoffs last season, right? He couldn't even spin baseline. You think Okur turned into that beastly of a defender overnight? I understand the point you are trying to make, but Okur is not gonna single cover a healthy Yao. No other player in the league has been able to do that...why do you think he gets doubled and zoned all day long? A healthy Yao will score if you let him go 1-1, in most cases. Granted, he still can't check Boozer, but if he could score at his normal rate, as opposed to making 44% of his shots, then we still win last years series even with Boozer getting off. I watched Yao play all season and in most cases where he wasn't doubled he scored.
Lakers are more athletic and have the speed to prevent him from going to the hole, Deron is not all that fast to begin with , he has the body though
Yao did go baseline last year in the playoffs. I dont want to hear how he was injured, so is everybody else. He did have his moments but mostly bad. Okur covered him real well last year. What took Yao out of his game is Okur's ability to shoot the 3.
Doesn't matter if it's his patented move or not. It was one less move he had at his disposal. He was not able to gain an advantage on his spin move like before and it shows that he was more slow footed after his injury.
you do remember, LAKERS was the no.1 team in the WEST before bynum, ariza went down, without having Paul
